Length of words

Learning Objective:

• we are learning to investigate whether books designed for older pupils have longer words

Investing:

• This is useful because it will help us to reflect on predictions that we make.

Preparing:

• Before you start you need to know:
  • How to use tally charts
  • How to find the mode
  • How to calculate the range

• Consider the question "Do you read longer words if you are older?"
  • Predict what you think the answer to this question may be
  • What might you need to do to convince people?
  • What data might you need?
  • How will you present your findings?
  • What are the problems with what you plan to do?

Modeling:

• Collect a sample of words from two different books. One book should be targetted at older pupils"and the other at younger pupils
  • How will you decide how long a word is?
  • Is punctuation counted?

Discussing:

• Discuss your findings - did your results show that you were correct?
  • How do you know this?
  • What are the limitations so far?

Explaining:

• One way to do this is...
• Another approach might be...
• A useful shortcut is to...
• This works because...
• It doesn't work when...
• An exception is...
• Watch out for...
• A common mistake is...
• You can check your result by...
• We can prove this works by...

Practicing:

• Some straightforward examples.
• Some harder examples.
• Some mixed examples.
• Some non-examples to spot and some mixed questions with redundant, insufficient or contradictory data.
• You can demonstrate fluency by at least...

Sharing:

• A web page or wiki I have created to explain this can be found at...
• A presentation I have created and rehearsed looks like...
• A poster I have drawn or model I have made can be found...

Assessing:

• Check you've mastered this skill by...
• Show you understand by explaining...
• Prove you're an expert in... by...

Developing:

• Next we could learn...
• This leads to...
• Now try...